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I promised, and now I deliver. It’s time to review the second part of the incredibly awesome trilogy staring the incredibly awesome Jennifer Lawrence.

Again, SPOILER ALERT, for anyone who hasn’t read the books or seen the movie. Although judging by the reactions at the end of the movie, it may be a good idea…It’s sort of like the Red Wedding, only Hunger Games style. So watch out, nonexistent readers.

Personally, I really enjoyed the movie, I had read the books, and as I usually do when I read books, (or at least good books which are going to become movies) I was really looking forward to seeing the book in visual format. I find that with a lot of adaptations, the movie neverlives up to the expectations of those who have read the book, because they have to change a lot of stuff. I mean, think about everything they have to do; hire actors, create special effects, create the sets, it costs a lot to do that stuff. And they have to figure out how to organise the story so that people do not get bored. So it’s up to them to sort out what is vital to the story and what doesn’t need to be there.

I was really happy with how Catching Fire was done, and it was a whole lot better than the Hunger Games, probably because they had a better budget this time as well as a new director, and they were able to do more stuff. I found in the last movie that the filming in a couple of scenes was a bit lazy. Like, some parts of it looked like that a student filmed it. But there was none of that in Catching Fire, so that made me very happy. :) Thankyou Lionsgate. <3

What I liked about the movie, and the previous one as well, was the extra stuff. From the book, you only get to see the point of view of Katniss, you don’t see what’s happening in the Capitol, or the behind the scenes of the actual Games. But in the movies, we get an insight of the world outside the Arena, we get to see the riots, and how Katniss’s actions in the arena affects the real world outside. Even the scenes involving the gamemakers as they manipulate the arena are good, as it almost reminds us that the Capitol are the ones causing kids to die, and as a result, we hate them even more.

I noticed two differences from the book and the film. The first I didn’t really care about, because I didn’t think it was necessary. In the book, Katniss runs into two people from District 8 who are running from the Capitol, and they’re headed for District 13, which everyone thinks is destroyed. Instead of this, there’s just mentions of how District 13 got decimated by the Capitol, and how war is building up again. In the end of the film though, (spoilers), it’s revealed that District 13 still exists, and that’s where they’re going…

In a way, I’m glad they didn’t include Bonnie and Twill, because it would’ve taken attention away from the more important parts of the story, and it was better that people just bring up District 13 here and there, so we didn’t entirely forget about it.

The other difference was one that I did mind. In Catching Fire the book, it shows us how Haymitch, the drunken mentor who’s a total badass, won his respective Hunger Games, which also involved him defying the Capitol in his own way. And I feel like they should’ve at least mentioned it in the movie, as Haymitch was reaped in a Quarter Quell, as were Katniss and Peeta in Catching Fire. It was a shame that they left it out, because I really wanted to see how Haymitch became the way he was! I mean, of course I know what happened, but I wanted to SEE it!

I guess that I feel like it would’ve given us more insight to his character.

Plus I wanted to see Haymitch as a hot seventeen year old teenager.

Fortunately, there’s going to be two more movies, so hopefully we’ll see Haymitch’s story in there.

-Johanna and Finnick. I was sitting next to Flash in the theatre, and I started cracking up at his expression when Johanna started stripping down in the elevator. Also, Finnick managed to turn on every girl in the theatre, simply by biting a sugar cube. Give those two a cookie.

-Jennifer Lawrence. She was awesome at playing Katniss Everdeen, I wanted to cry when she cried, I felt angry when she was angry, and she won everyone’s love through the Hunger Games Trilogy. I’m really looking forward to seeing her in new stuff.

Oh, and there was one thing I forgot to bring up. Thank god I remembered before I pressed Publish.

The ending.

The ending resulted in half the theatre screaming “What?”, “The hell?” and “NOOOO!”

And I don’t really understand why. I mean, I knew it was shocking, but I didn’t expect a reaction that huge from the audience. Smith and I, the only ones who read the book, had to console our ‘family’ and friends, who were screaming “Whyyyyyyy?” as we left the theatre.

So those are my thoughts about Catching Fire, what did you guys think? And why was there such a huge reaction at the ending? Leave thoughts below, I really want to read what you non-existent readers think.

Mad Cat has been to the movies today, and since I’m feeling inspired at the moment (plus I haven’t written anything for a while), I’m going to write what I thought of it.

Oh, and yes, there shall be SPOILERS, because unlike professional critics, I spoil stuff. Mostly for myself though, because I am far too curious for my own good. Yes, I’ve heard that saying, curiosity killed the cat, but it’s not like getting a summary of what happens in the next book of A Song Of Ice And Fire is going to kill me.

Anyway, let’s move onto the movie.

Just a beforehand; I have not seen the first Thor movie, nor the Avengers, nor do I know what happens in either. I know! I really should’ve seen them before I saw the sequel of Thor, but I didn’t have any time, and since I was already half in love with Loki/Tom Hiddleston, I figured, ‘Meh, I’ll love it anyway.’

So, with my gang of merry companions, we were off the see the movie! In our gang today, we had MJ, Slenderman, Smith, Papa Willis, Flash, and Papa Willis’ girlfriend Giggles. Also joining us were some people that I have never met before, but the rest of my ‘family’ were well acquainted with. I’m going to name them Pancake, Idris, Tiff, and Bluey. I’ve definitely missed some of them, but hopefully I’ll be able to remember them all next time, (so many naaaaames).

Oh, before I go on, I have to mention something. I’m now in a relationship *girly screaming* with Flash. This has been going on for about a month now, and I really like him. I’ve got no idea why he likes me, but he’s really sweet and he’s still as mad as me. BAHAHAHAHA! No, there’s no one madder than me. But I’ll keep you imaginary readers updated on how this relationship goes.

So now, review time! Yes, time to talk about Thor. Remember, this post is dark, and full of spoilers…(#gameofthronesreference)

So, here’s the summary of the back story, please forget my lack of specific names, I’m an incredibly forgetful Cat.

A race who are called the Dark Elves, but are probably better known by another name (which I cannot remember), who wished to turn the whole universe to darkness, using a power source known as ether. Years ago, in the times of Thor’s grandfather, there was a battle, and the people of Asgard stole the ether away from the Dark elves, forcing the leader and villain of the film, Malekith, played by the insanely awesome Chris Eccleston, to abandon his army, with a select few others. The ether was locked away, instead of being destroyed, which probably would’ve stopped shit from going down in this movie, and also prevented what’s going to happen in the next… But more on that later.

Let’s start with what I liked about the movie. Aka: Let’s talk about Loki.

Along with every other human being on the planet who’s seen the film, I love Loki, and it’s one of those cases where you love the villain more than the hero. In this movie, Loki teamed up with Thor in order to destroy the ether and Malekith, because Thor needs to smuggle his gf away from Asgard, and the only way to do this without getting caught is to use a secret passage that only Loki (of course) knows.

I loved the bromance between Thor and Loki, and I feel that their relationship was portrayed really well in this movie. Thor wants to trust Loki, but because of his actions, he can’t. But he loves his little brother, and about ninety nine percent of the dialogue between the two of them is brotherly banter. Loki seems to have redeemed himself in the end, when he tricks Malekith to bring the ether out into the open so Thor can destroy it, and ends up sacrificing himself to save his brother, much to the dismay of everyone in the theatre.

Of course, there was a reason I said seems. In the end, Thor goes to Odin to tell him of how Loki died honourably, and how he does not wish to take the throne of Asgard. Odin accepts this, and allows Thor to leave. Then, the second Thor leaves, Odin’s form changes into….

Well, I think you can guess.

That’s what I love about Loki, and why I like him more than Thor. Thor’s pretty cool, but his intentions are pretty clear; save the world, protect the realm, and protect Jane Foster. Whereas Loki is all over the place, no one knows why he’s helping Thor until the end of the movie, where it becomes clear that he still wants the throne, and he’s just tricked Thor into giving it to him. He’s willing to do anything to get what he wants, and he’s brilliant enough to turn things to his own advantage in the long term. Thor is far too trusting for my liking, whereas Loki is calculating and witty, though I think Thor would still be a better king than him, because Loki would think of his own good before that of the realm.

I was glad that they showed his relationship with his mother, as it gave him more of a human side to him. When she is killed by Malekith, he’s shown trashing his cell in a fury, as his mother was the only one shown to still care for him when he was in prison. Saying that, he did seem to recover reasonably quickly after Thor releases him, he brushes her death quickly to the side, and he’s still able to spit out witty remarks wherever he goes. Then again, you could say the same for Thor, as he’s still able to go around dealing with the incoming war despite the death of his mother. I guess I wished that there was more emotional impact from her death, on Thor and Loki both. It’s the same with Loki’s ‘death’, as well, it doesn’t seem to faze Thor as much, and I really wish that there was more emotion afterward. It could have been as simple as Thor screaming the Adgardian equivalent of “This is for my mom and little brother, bitch!” when he’s battling Malekith near the end. But it seems like Thor does extremely little mourning throughout the film, and that bothers me a bit. And no one else seems to mind the fact that he’s not mourning his family either, not even his gf Jane Foster, and that also bothers me. If someone I knew had even one family member pass away, I’d ask him if he was alright. Sure, there’s a battle going on, but seriously Jane, it’s one sentence.

While we’re on the topic of Jane, I’m also feeling dissatisfied with her relationship with Thor in the movie. There may have been some connection between them in the first movie which I have not received since I haven’t watched it, but in this movie, I find that the connection between the two of them is very small.

In The Dark World, the two of them have not seen each other for two years, since the events of the Avengers, and from what I gather, what they did see of each other was barely a glimpse, because you know, Loki was destroying everything. There’s a bit at the beginning where they’ve reunited and she slaps him in the face twice, but for the rest of the movie, with the exception of one single kiss, their relationship doesn’t get any screen time, as they’re too busy focusing on the ether and the Dark elves and Malekith.

I guess I don’t really see Jane as an unforgettable character. Actually, I see her more of an older, scientist version of Bella Swan. Now hear me out! They may have had something in the first film, I don’t know. If they did, feel free to correct me in the comments below! Actually, please do correct me, I’m begging you, I don’t want another Bella! But that’s how I felt.

So here’s what I gathered about Bella- I mean Jane. Again, feel free to correct me.

-For two years, she’s been searching for him, probably after meeting him in the events of Thor.

-She’s going on a date with a nice human guy when she ditches him halfway when her intern tells her that there’s sign of ‘you know who’.

-Then she gets pulled into the events of the movie because the ether enters her system when she’s accidentally teleported to its hiding spot.

-Thor finds her after he discovers she’s disappeared from Earth. You know, because he can monitor her from Asgard but he can’t even pop over for a visit.

-He takes her back to Asgard and they discover she has the ether in her, which is what is bringing the Dark Elves to Asgard. So of course, she has to stay.

-And she proceeds to do….

Well, I’m not entirely sure.

Oh, she slaps Loki at one point. And I think she does a whole lot of stuff with the teleportation things which have suddenly appeared around Earth, but that is really all that I could collect. Apart from that, she’s really there because she has the ether inside her, she can tell them stuff about the teleportation/gravity thingymajinkies, and because she means something to Thor, which I cannot really understand because I haven’t seen the first movie. She helps beat Malekith, somehow, but she does very little else. She doesn’t really offer support to Thor, she doesn’t speak out against what Odin’s doing (aka, nothing) and she happily goes along with her warrior god bf who she hasn’t seen for two years, and she doesn’t seem even the slightest bit annoyed about that fact. Speak out a little girl! Give some purpose to your story other than to advance the plot and look pretty in a dress!

In summary, they should’ve given Jane some personality in the film. Again, they might have done this in the first one, I don’t know, but if they did, they should’ve kept that up in the sequel. I mean, Pepper was cool in the Iron Man movies, why can’t Jane?

The last thing I’m going to talk about is the villain of the story, Malekith.

I was super excited when they announced that Chris Eccleston, better known as the Ninth Doctor, was going to be the villain in Thor: The Dark World. And Chris did not disappoint me. The loveable Doctor with the big ears was unrecognisable in Thor. In this film, he’s menacing, and he is firmly set on his goal, nothing will stand in his way to turn the world back to darkness.

I did have a problem with Malekith though. And it was probably caused by a certain someone taking the spotlight. In the shadow of Loki, Malekith becomes almost forgettable, and I’m sad at that, because I thought Malekith had a lot of potential as a villain, and it was a pity that there wasn’t as much focus on him than Loki. And Loki complains that he isn’t loved…

So that’s what I thought about the movie Thor: The Dark World. Now it’s pretty clear from the ending scene and the bonus scenes during and after the credits that there is going to be a third movie. So, I’m going to imagine that the producers of Thor have actually read this and actually give a rats tail for my opinion about what I’d like in the next movie.

So here’s what I want.

-Give Thor PAIN. I feel like there should’ve been more emotion from him during the film, so please remedy that.

-Fix Bel-Jane Foster. Why can’t she have personality? She’s an intelligent scientist in her own right, don’t make her into another Bella Swan, she’s better than that. That guy she was having lunch with in the beginning of the film, set her up with him! Give her some substance and purpose the the plot next time!

-Loki is perfect, everyone agrees on that, but if you’re going to have another villain, give him a chance, don’t let him stay in Loki’s shadow, make him a memorable villain in his own right!

Overall, I enjoyed the movie a lot, there was plenty of comedic relief, thanks to Loki and Darcy, and I feel like the series is going in a good direction, but I did feel unsatisfied with some of the characters, and I hope that the third Thor movie can make them more three dimensional next time. Plot wise, that is.